Shell CEO To Retire In 2014, First Quarter Profit Rises 4%

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) said Thursday that's its Chief Executive Peter Voser, who has led it since July 2009, will retire in the first half of 2014.

The announcement came as the Anglo-Dutch energy giant posted a 4% rise in profit for the first quarter as it benefited from higher refining margins.

"Oil prices have fallen recently, but Shell is implementing a long-term, competitive and innovative strategy against this volatile backdrop," Mr. Voser said In a statement.

The Anglo-Dutch energy company said its current cost of supplies, a figure that excludes gains or losses in the value of inventories and is therefore equivalent to net profit reported by U.S. oil companies, was $7.95 billion in the three months ended March 31, compared with $7.68 billion a year earlier.

Excluding gains or losses from one-off items like asset sales, the company's profit rose 3% to $7.52 billion. This was well above expectations of $6.50 billion in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of 10 analysts.

Total oil and gas production was 3.559 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, only a slight increase from 3.552 million barrels of oil equivalent per day on the year as security problems in Nigeria and divestments affected output. Analysts were expecting production of 3.551 million barrels of oil equiavlent a day.

Group revenues were $112.81 billion, compared with $119.92 billion a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share were $1.29 compared with $1.40 the previous year.

Write to Justin Scheck at justin.scheck@wsj.com

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